Traffic volumes Zurich

Passenger volumes climbed to 92% of pre-pandemic level

Passenger numbers in 2023 saw a year-on-year increase of 28%, with several days peaking at over 100,000. Volumes recovered gradually over the course of the reporting year close to pre-pandemic levels.

The local market accounted for the highest proportion of passengers, reaching 91% of its pre-pandemic volume, while the transfer market improved marginally faster to 93%. As a result, at 29.8 %, the proportion of transfer passengers was slightly higher than in 2019. While the transfer market compensated for the static local market during the first quarter, local services picked up from the spring onwards, especially for leisure travel.

The individual market regions all showed positive annual growth. As Zurich Airportʼs main market, European destinations accounted for around 25% more passengers than in 2022. This was primarily driven by leisure demand for flights to southern countries such as Spain, Portugal and Turkey.

Intercontinental travel accounted for a quarter of all passengers, reaching 88% of 2019 levels. While passenger volumes flying to and from destinations in North America recovered almost completely, the Far East region reached only 72% of its pre-pandemic volume owing to the sluggish recovery of China and Hong Kong. This was due to the late lifting of coronavirus-related travel restrictions by China and Hong Kong and their weakening economies. Despite the conflict in the Middle East, this region did better, reaching 91% of pre-pandemic passenger numbers.

In the year under review, home carrier SWISS accounted for 51.2% of the total passenger volume. Edelweiss Airʼs share was 10%, followed by Austrian, Chair and Lufthansa with a share of 2.1% each. In total, members of the Lufthansa Group took a 67% share and carried around 93% of transfer passengers at Zurich.

Record-breaking seat load factor

The 19% increase in the number of scheduled and charter flight movements was slightly less dynamic than the rise in passenger numbers. Owing to high demand coupled with airline capacity constraints, the average annual seat load factor reached a record high of 80.4%. On average each scheduled or charter aircraft carried 135 passengers, around five more than in 2019.

General aviation saw a 9% drop in flight movements. This was due to the rebound in scheduled and charter services. In comparison with 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the number of general aviation aircraft movements rose by 4%.

Freight loses momentum

The volume of freight handled fell by 10% year on year. Air freight accounted for 68% of this, reaching only a rather low 77% of its pre-pandemic level. After briefly collapsing at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, road freight experienced greater demand. However, this evaporated again during the reporting year, resulting in a volume of just 2% more than before the crisis.

The higher growth of road freight compared with air freight is due to the sluggish market and the lack of capacity on scheduled services. These capacity constraints resulted from fewer flight movements than in 2019, coupled with higher passenger capacity utilisation. At 96%, the share of air freight transported on freight-only flights was close to its pre-pandemic level. This percentage had been noticeably elevated during the past three years because of crisis-related freight flights.

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